Tomb Raider: Secrets of the World
by MyLifeAsCayley
Summary: Since the events that occurred during Yamatai, Lara Croft has been itching for something to bring her on another adrenaline rushing adventure. This will be a series of continuous adventures for young Lara Croft, aided when needed with the luck of her friends.
1. Chapter 1

"_They think me dead, yet you are about to discover the truth_," Lara Croft read aloud the new note she found on her pillow. "Very funny, Winston."

Lara put the note down beside her bed with the rest of _Winston's_ tricked pages.

All week he'd been placing pages and notes with similar sayings to the new note in her room.

Lara wondered if her butler had finally lost it. Was it one of her new relics that she brought home that enchanted him?

'No, Lara,' she thought to herself. 'Stop comparing everything to the past's madness.'

She'd been on two expeditions since the leave of Yamatai – one of which involved the return to Yamatai to re-save her friend Sam.

And now her dear old butler was losing it, pretending to be some god.

Lara looked down at the notes, realising they were torn pages from her diary. She frowned.

Lara gathered all the pages and walked across her room where she had her new world-map stuck to her wall, her desk placed below, and a small dustbin underneath it.

Glancing up at the map, Lara expected her eyes to wonder towards Yamatai like they always did, but instead landed on a red circulated island not far north from Europe. She'd never seen it before. That or she wasn't as observant as she hoped.

Underneath the circled island was the wording '_notes 3, 2, 5, 1, 4.'_

The order of the notes she received them in?

Lara immediately put the notes down in the order she received them then swapped them into the order instructed on the map.

'_Lady Lara, I have requested your help.'_

_'You have built some great respect and a big reputation on this realm. I have a new task at hand.'_

_'They think me dead, yet you are about to discover the truth.'_

_'I am a benevolent god in need of your service.'_

_'I await your arrival on a newly risen island when the fifth note is given.' _

"This is ridiculous," Lara said as she remembered the third hermit that lived in her home. She gathered the notes once again and walked out of her room and down a flight of stairs.

She made her way towards one of the many guest rooms and stopped outside one of the newly painted doors that now belonged to her computer geek.

The door had a new poster stuck on it, advertising a new game about goddess warriors.

Lara rolled her eyes and knocked on the door, trying to listen in.

"Hello? Landlady needs her geek…" Lara tried saying but got no reply. She tried opening the door, but it was locked.

Lara then began to panic. What if something happened to her computer geek? No, she wasn't going to let anything happen to him. She once lost him before, but not again.

Lara took a few steps back and raised a leg, kicking the fragile door open.

"Alex!" Lara ran in, afraid.

Alex sat up straight in his bed, putting on his glass. His hair was a mess and he was in yesterday's clothing.

"Did you just call me your geek?" Alex grinned, becoming hopeful.

Lara shook her head and let out a sigh, calming down. "You scared me, Alex! I thought something happened to you!"

Alex's grin turned to a soft smile. "I'm sorry, Lara. You're still not over Yamatai, huh?"

"No," Lara looked down.

"I know I didn't even see half the things you did, or do the things you had to," Alex stood up, "and I know your nightmares are bigger than mine. But—"

"No offense, Alex, but you shouldn't even be having nightmares," Lara tried joking, looking up at him.

Alex sighed, looking around his room as if there were something important he needed. "But I do. I keep dreaming about the Solarii capturing us… I keep dreaming about being stuck on the endurance with those damn tools. Sometimes I dream you're not there to save me and those men get hold of me. Other times I dream I tell you to get out and when you do I shoot that gas, almost killing you in the process."

"But you didn't. We fought together. We got out together," Lara said gently. "The nightmares do go away. Focus on what happened, not what could have happened. Everyone fought hard to be a survivor, to be a hero- even those we lost."

Alex smiled nervously. "You're my hero, Lara."

Lara quickly held up the notes, trying to avoid what he said. She didn't want to be anyone's hero. She didn't feel like one after losing Roth… Grim and the others. "Did you make these?"

Alex took the notes and read them, shaking his head. "No, but it sounds like a trap."

"Someone's been placing these in my room the whole week. They even wrote on my map," Lara said as Alex held the notes up in the sunlight.

"Mind if I have a look?" Alex asked.

"Sure," Lara nodded, leading Alex to her room. She stopped in front of the map and frowned. "What? No! It was right here! I swear!"

Alex placed a hand on Lara's shoulder, looking up at the map. "Lara, I believe you, relax."

"But it was right here," Lara looked up at Alex. "How could it just disappear?"

"Maybe you really are working with a god," Alex smirked.

"I'll believe it when I see it with my own eyes," Lara took the notes from Alex. "But I know where to go. I'll ask Reyes if she knows anyone who can take me there."

"You're actually going?" Alex sounded shocked. "Do you need me to come with?"

Lara shook her head. "I need you to stay and guide me from here. Built anything good lately?"

Alex smirked.

"As crazy as you sound, I ain't going anywhere without you, Lara," Reyes said. She stopped her small boat's engine just along the island's shore. "I'll be right here for when you're done."

Lara knew what Reyes was doing. She was taking Roth's place as her guardian.

She was grateful although a small part of her began to miss Roth all over again.

"Thanks, Joslin," Lara smiled, picking up her backpack filled with supplies. "I'll try and be quick."

"Lara, what are you even looking for?" Reyes asked.

Lara looked up towards the island ahead of her. "I honestly don't know.

Lara raised her left wrist, pressing a side button to her watch.

"Alex, can you hear me?" Lara said into her watch.

"Whoa! Loud and clear, Lara," Alex's voice came through a speaker inside the watch. "Just back up a little, okay?"

Lara lowered the watch from her face, noticing a small black lens. "You installed a camera on it?"

"Yeah," Alex said proudly.

"Why?" Lara raised an eyebrow in the few seconds of Alex's silence.

"Well… if you find anything then you can use the camera and then I can research it for you," Alex eventually replied.

"You're a terrible liar," Lara avoided eye contact with the camera. She really didn't get why Alex admired her as much as he did. To her, she was just helping out when the others couldn't. To her, her crew were the real heroes in the end. "Alex… we need to talk."

"No, not now, Lara," Alex instantly spoke up. "Just… let me get over whatever this is on my own, okay?"

Honestly the words stung Lara a bit. 'Not what I meant.'

"Find any information on the island?" Lara asked, allowing her fringe to fall in front of her face, her voice softening a bit.

"Nope. You're on an island that magically appeared overnight. What does it even look like?"

"Better than Yamatai."

"Lara…" Alex paused, becoming concerned. "Are you okay?"

"Just fine," Lara pressed the side button, ending her talk with Alex.

She sighed and stood up from the boulder she sat on, scanning her surroundings, ignoring the disappointment inside of her.

Lara tilted her head slightly, noticing a clear sandy pathway leading through a forest not far from her.

Lara jumped down and pulled out her pistols, walking into the forest.

After walking ten minutes straight, the hairs on Lara's arms began to stand, a loud wolf's howl echoing throughout the forest.

There was no way it came from an ordinary wolf. It was too loud. It had to be a big one.

"_Lara_…"

Lara's heart skipped a beat as she spun around, unable to see the woman who had said her name. Scary thing was that the woman had a very distinct voice. She'd heard it before, but couldn't put a face to the person.

Lara shook her head and carried on walking, coming to the entrance of a cave.

Lara pulled out her torch and shone it into the cave, only finding a deep slope that led down into darkness. Lara sighed and put her torch off, clicking the button on her watch.

"Alex, there's something on this island. I heard a wolf, but it's too big to be a wolf. Also something said my name, but no one's around," Lara rushed.

"Lara—"

"Warn Reyes for me?"

"Lara-"

"I've also just found a cave—"

"Shit, Lara, behind yo—"

Cold air was sucked in through Lara's teeth as she came to her senses. She was lying in her bed in her room.

The clock on her bedside table showed it was Friday, which was strange to her because she was on island five days ago.

Lara frowned and prompted her body up with her elbows, looking around her room.  
>How did she get back home? Did Reyes search for her and bring her back?<p>

What all could she remember? She was walking along the island, heard a... an animal… heard… someone say something… she spoke to… Reyes?

Lara's palm immediately smacked against her forehead, wanting to remove any splitting pain she felt within her head. "Ouch."

What animal did she hear? It was a woman's voice she heard, but what did she say? She wasn't talking to Reyes, it was Alex… wasn't it?

The more Lara tried to remember, the more the pounding in her head became unbearable.

Lara slowly climbed out of bed and made her way to her bathroom. She opened the medicine cabinet and drank something to help with her headache.

She made her way down the stairs in search for Alex, following the sound of new rock music.

She frowned when she saw a dirty shoeprint against Alex's door, which appeared to be broken.

Lara pushed the door open slowly, taking a step into Alex's messy room.

Gadgets, dirty clothes, and video games lay all around the floor. His bed was not made and some wires were folded on it.

Alex sat in front of his computer, iTunes opened on the screen. His keyboard had been pushed out of the way along with the mouse. In his hands he was re-adjusting a watch Lara could no longer remember. She tried to, it did look familiar, but her trying was useless at the moment.

Lara knocked on the door, refraining herself from watching him a bit longer.

Alex looked back at her before getting the fright of his life. Lara was in his room.

Normally that would make him honoured… and happy… but with the room's current state it only made him wish to crawl under the wooden planks of his floor.

Lara couldn't help but laugh. "You look like a deer caught in the headlights."

Alex's mouth went dry. He slowly looked around the room and his eye twitched, looking back at Lara. A messy room plus a pretty girl equalled holes in his self-esteem.

"I swear I'm not a slob," Alex mumbled, his hand searching for the space bar on his keyboard, pausing the music. He kept his eyes on Lara in case she were to suddenly run out and fetch her shotgun. "I'm going to clean all of this. I was just looking for something."

Lara smiled and pushed some game boxes out of the way with her foot, making a pathway towards Alex. She gave him a peck on the cheek to calm him down, but instead Alex felt more confused than ever.

"Built anything good lately besides fixing up an old watch?" Lara said jokingly, folding her arms on the head rest of his chair.

"Aha!" Alex smirked, picking up the watch. "I have fooled the great Lara Croft! This is no mere watch. It's a watch slash communicator. It's for me to keep in contact with you."

"Is that a lens?" Lara asked, pointing out a black dot on the watch.

"Yeah," Alex grinned, looking up at her.

"Why?" Lara asked.

Alex froze, eyes widening. Slowly he looked down at the watch, trying to think of an excuse while Lara raised an eyebrow in his moment of silence.

"Well," Alex pretended to be examining the watch, "if you find anything then you can use the camera and then I can research it for you."

Lara stood up straight, frowning. "I swear you've said that before."

Alex let out a fake laugh, not thinking his next sentence through properly. "I'm pretty sure if I had said it before then I'd have sounded more professional second time around."

Lara smiled. "So what happened? How did you guys get me off of the island?"

"What island?" Alex asked, looking up at her.

"Alex, I'm serious," Lara said.

"So am I," Alex turned to face her properly. "You went out Monday, came back and you've been asleep for days. You scared Winston a bit… and me of course."

Lara backed away a bit, trying to remember what happened when a flash of a cloaked figure with bony hands reached out towards her.

Lara's eyes widened and she went pale. Alex stood up.

"Lara?" Alex took a grip of her arms in case she were to fall over. "Are you okay?"

"Alex, something very important was taken from us," Lara said, looking up at him. "We need to get it back."


	2. Chapter 2

The sneaking part was easy. What Lara really worried about was her shadow giving away her position.

She began climbing the metal ladder in the room and once on top she pulled her body up onto the thin, wobbly board. She stood up and looked down upon her prey.

Lara walked to the end of the plank and smirked. She leapt from her diving board and dove straight into the pool, a big splash of water hitting against Alex.

He gasped and froze, his glasses completely soaked, not being able to see a thing through them.

Lara came up for air and looked towards her friend, not being able to hold back a laugh. "I'm sorry. You were sleeping and it was so tempting."

Alex sat up, taking his glasses off. "Winston said I needed to get out of my room and become one with nature. Water's nature, so I figured the indoor-pool was good enough." Alex cleaned his glasses with the bottom of his shirt. "I probably dozed off from boredom."

Lara smiled and swam to the side by Alex, folding her arms above the edge. "Why didn't you swim a bit then?"

Alex looked down at Lara, only seeing a blurry figure. "I think we all know how talented I am when it comes to swimming."

"It's not that deep," Lara rested her head on the palm of her left hand.

Alex put his glasses on, freezing up when he saw Lara, his brain realising a few things: Lara, in a blue swimming costume, was soaking wet and could easily pull him into the pool if she wanted to.

Alex's heart skipped a beat when Lara's cell-phone began to ring nearby.

"Great," Lara said sarcastically as she began to pull herself out of the water.

"No!" Alex immediately pushed Lara back into the water, jumping to his feet. "I'll get it!"

Lara stood still for a bit, wondering what Alex's sudden problem was. She sighed and climbed out anyway.

"It's Sam," Alex said, reading the caller ID.

Lara took it from Alex and slid her finger across the screen to accept the video call. "Hey, Sam!"

Alex froze, looking away.

"Hey, Lara! Why haven't you called all week? I've been trying to get hold of you!" Sam pouted. She was in the room of the old place they once shared. She was lying on her stomach, on her bed. "Did you go swimming? Please tell me you did? I could use a swim right now."

"Come over and you can swim all you like," Lara grinned.

"You know she will, right?" Alex folded his arms.

"Whoa! Hold up! You're in a costume, right? And Alex is in the room?" Sam put a hand over the side of her mouth and whispered, "How is he not dead?"

"Hey!" Alex frowned.

Lara brought them both into Sam's view, smiling.

"Relax idiot," Sam rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I was going to ask if you guys are okay if I visit. I need a holiday."

Alex's eyes widened. "Absolutely no—"

"That sounds like fun!" Lara interrupted Alex, grinning.

"Good," Sam grinned. "Expect me in a few days."

"Great. See you then," Lara ended the call, putting the phone down on a table.

Alex shook his head and headed for the room's exit. "Guess I really have to clean my room now."

Alex heard Lara giggle and that made him smile all the way towards his room. It was the little things like that small happiness from Lara that made him grateful to be where he was today. He'd have never survived without her.

The last night on Yamatai seemed to be one big blur for Alex. He remembered the last bit being on Yamatai before everything slipped from him completely. His mother and Lara had to explain everything else to him.

* * *

><p><em>Lara ran into the room Alex was in, seeing his injury properly. A big pipe had landed on his leg, pinning him down. <em>

"_Oh, Alex," she bent down in front of him. _

_Alex raised his hand, showing Reyes' tools. He opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out. _

"_You got the tools," Lara said._

"_Finally I impress you!" Alex tried joking. _

_Lara let out a soft laugh before placing her hands on the pipe. "Let's get you out of here," she said beginning to lift the heavy object._

"_Oh, God!" Alex cried out from the pain._

_Lara immediately let go. "Oh, I'm sorry… sorry."_

"_Well, it looks like my dance career is over," Alex let out a weak laugh._

_Lara looked up at him and let out the same faint laugh she had earlier. _

_Just then the sound of a gun was fired just above them._

_Alex raised a gun and fired a bullet into gas nearby, setting off an instant explosion that killed the men. The whole ship shook while Lara covered the back of her head. "What are you doing? You'll kill us!" _

_Alex immediately felt like a failure once more. Not only had his plan to impress Lara led him to end up in his current situation, but she was right. He could actually end up killing them. _

_Another explosion went off and Alex realised the ship wasn't going to hold much longer._

"_I'm not going to make it out here, Lara," Alex said, holding the tools out towards her. "Take the tools."_

"_Not without you!" Lara shook her head._

"_How often does a guy like me get to be a hero?" Alex tried to make a point before being cut off by a man shooting above them._

"_Ah!" Lara hid behind the metal object Alex was leaning against._

_Alex pressed the back of his hand against her arm._

"_Nowhere to run!" a Solarii member with a shield yelled, spotting them from the room Lara was previously in. _

"_The others are counting on us," Alex showed her the tools once more. Lara looked down at them as if they were Mathias himself. Alex looked to his side, noticing another pipe leaking gas. He aimed his gun towards it and looked back at Lara. "Go!" _

_Lara shook her head. At the moment her heart felt like it had been torn in two. She couldn't leave Alex. Not after all that they're been through. Not after all the things she's felt for him and wished she'd have said. _

"_Now," Alex said desperately, his voice hitching in his throat. _

_Lara inhaled deeply, trying to look for a sign in his eyes that begged her to stay with him, but he was so determined._

_Lara took the tools from him and placed a hand against his cheek, leaning towards him to kiss him, but instead he turned his head and she pecked his cheek._

'_You've got great instincts girl, you've just got to trust them.' Roth was right and her instincts told her to stay where she is. _

_Lara stood up and dropped the tools, immediately poling out her rifle. There was no way she was going to walk out of here alive without Alex by her side. She lost too many close to her already, she was not prepared to make Alex the next target. _

_She'd fought bigger before under a spotlight and under pressure. She could definitely do this small task. _

_Lara sucked in a deep breath and began shooting the men above, being careful not to shoot any of the gas._

_Alex was stuck in awe that a girl like Lara still stayed no matter what. _

_He aimed his gun towards the man with the shield, beginning to shoot him just as the man walked up the stairs. The bullets destroyed his headgear, soon enough succeeding with a bullet to the head._

_Lara spun around and shot the other men above._

_Her rifle ran out just as she cleared the room. She heard more men coming, causing her to replace the rifle with her bow, getting it ready. _

_The stupid thing was that they all rushed in in a line, allowing Lara to shoot them on time. _

_Lara lowered her bow after listening to complete silence above. She paid attention to the sound of a few bullets going off and looked back at Alex. He was protecting them from the Solarii on the level of the ship they were on, shooting the last few men to enter the previous room. _

_Lara pressed her back against the wall and peaked into the previous room, making sure no one was hiding._

"_Clear, she said, looking back at Alex. She froze._

_Alex stared at her with tears in his eyes. It was as if now he realised how badly things could have ended. The one thing that really got to him wasn't the fact that he almost died, but the fact that Lara did something no one would have done for him._

"_Thank you," he breathed out shakily, a tear escaping his eyes._

_Lara put down her bow and walked towards him. She dropped to his side and hugged him tightly, beginning to sob. A part of her was relieved she was successful, another part of her just wanted to let all her emotions out. They had been so piled up and controlled they were just streaming out. _

_Alex hugged back, trying his best to comfort her. He waited a minute to let her get what she needed to get out before patting her back gently. "Let's save the rest of the tears for when we're really out of this mess."_

"_Sorry," Lara immediately let of Alex, feeling bad for crying like a baby. _

_Alex sighed softly, wishing she would have held onto him a bit longer. _

"_Okay, I'm going to lift this and it is going to hurt, but you need to pull your leg out from underneath," Lara said as she placed her hands on the pipe._

_Alex nodded and got a grip around his leg. Lara got a grip of the pipe and picked the heavy structure up while Alex held his breath and picked up his leg, dropping it beside his other leg._

_He let go of the air he was holding and threw his hand over his mouth to muffle his screams of pain._

_Lara sighed weakly and let go of the pipe, digging in her back pockets for what she had left from Roth's extra bandages. _

_Lara reached for her bow and handed it to Alex. "You'll probably need to bite on that. This is going to hurt."_

_Alex shook his head. "Lara, even if you bandage it up, I can't make it up the ropes. Hell, I can't even walk."_

"_I will help you walk. I pickpocketed someone and found a rope ascender. You will use that until we get to the beach safely. I'll climb and help where I can," Lara said gently, tempted to hug him again._

_Alex nodded and placed a part of the bow between his teeth._

_Lara lifted his leg and began to patch his wound up quickly but carefully._

_As soon as the group had gotten off of Yamatai, Alex's wound had become a bad infection and was only getting worse by the hour. He even passed out a few times on their rescue ship. _

_Lara decided then and there that she wasn't going to let anything stop her. She needed to venture a bit more into the open and Alex needed the best medical treatment possible. There was one explanation to help her, but she promised she'd make note of everything spent and replace the money she were to use. She was going to use the money her parents left for her. She was going home. Why not? She'd tried many times to get the memory of her parents out of her mind, and Roth's death was a reminder that no matter what she needed to hold onto some things in order to remember someone truly for who they were. _

_The luxuries weren't the things that reminded Lara of her parents or Roth. It was the memories and smell and artefacts and feel to the manor that called her back home._

_Lara had phoned Alex's mom and explained everything. Mrs. Weiss told Lara to bring Alex to his hometown where he could be submitted into hospital there. The cheapest hospital of course, in hope that the doctors would just be able to help with Alex's infection. Lara refused to do that and made sure a well known hospital in London gave Alex the best treatment._

_He stayed in for month, but Lara didn't mind, she'd go hiking and moved on to another exploration, cancelling the hopeless psychologist Sam and Reyes had set her with. _

_Lara even managed to do one successful adventure before returning back to London, where Alex's doctor asked that he be take home where he could rest._

_Lara informed Alex's mother about what she was doing. Lara even told her that since Alex didn't have a job, he should live with her in the manor, working for her. Mrs Weiss agreed and asked that Lara surprise him with a room filled with his things._

_It didn't take long for everything Alex owned to arrive and it only took Lara and Winston a day and a half to set up everything for the surprise. __It was just on time too. Alex came to his senses the day after, not needing any medication that would instantly knock him out from the pain._

* * *

><p>Alex walked into his room and sat down in front of his computer, picking up the watch he'd been modifying. He stared at it for a minute before opening its back. If Lara was really on another island he would have made her take the watch.<p>

Alex took the camera's chip and inserted into his computer. He opened the file and found two videos. He double clicked on the first once, opening it.

"_Alex, can you hear me?"_ Lara's voice came through along with a visual of her lips.

"_Whoa! Loud and clear, Lara,"_ Alex's voice came through. _"Just back up a little, okay?"_

Alex's eyes widened. She was really telling the truth. But why couldn't he remember any of it?

"Lara!" Alex yelled, hoping it was loud enough to reach her.

By the time the video ended Lara had entered his room, back in her casual clothing. He jumped up and gestured Lara sit down on the chair.

"What's going on?" Lara laughed at his nervousness, finding it adorable.

"You need to see this," Alex said as he replayed the video for Lara to see.

Alex pushed his computer to its side so he could lean against his desk, his eyes glancing towards Lara on the screen and Lara in front of him.

Lara's eyes got wider with every second that passed until they couldn't widen anymore. She was overwhelmed with both relief and shock.

The video ended and Alex clicked on the next video where Lara was in the forest.

They both watched intently.

"_Lara—_"

"Oh, God," Lara put a hand over her mouth as they both spotted a hooded figure moving towards filmed-Lara from behind.

"_Shit, Lara, behind you!"_

By then filmed-Lara had spun around and was knocked out by a fist to the face.

She had hit the ground and the camera still caught a visual of her in the corner of the screen.

The hooded figure knelt down behind Lara, its hands shown clearly. One was pale but normal, the other literally bones.

The figure felt Lara's neck for pulse.

"_Definitely the daughter of Amelia," _The hooded woman said.

Lara's hand's tightened around the chair's arm rests.

Alex noticed this. "Who's Amelia?"

"My mother…" Lara whispered, staring at the video in horror.

The woman stood up before picking Lara up into her arms, Lara's arms falling loose to the woman's side.

The camera caught a glimpse of what looked like a shadowed, giant wolf and serpent before the video finished.

"What the fuck was that!?" Alex moved away from his desk, horrified.

"I don't know, but I think I need to go back there," Lara said.

Alex turned to Lara, worried. "You're going back there?"

"Yeah," Lara pulled out her phone and began calling Reyes. "Somehow my mother is involved in this and I need to find out how."

Alex nodded and exited the black screen of the video.

Lara waited a few seconds before her phone indicated that Reyes was unavailable. "Either a dead battery or the phone is off. Going to try Alisha."

Alex nodded and began making backups of the videos.

Lara dialled the number and pressed the phone to her ear.

"Hello?" Alisha answered.

"Hey, is your mum there? She's not answering her phone," Lara said.

"No, isn't she with you?" Alisha asked.

"Oh," Lara's eyes widened, _everything_ that happened on that island finally coming back to her.

Alex stopped what he was doing and glanced towards Lara.

Lara remembered the woman carrying her, placed her in Reyes' boat. She was pretending to be knocked out. The woman had placed a hand on the unmoving Joslin's forehead and then picked her up into her arms. The woman was much taller than Joslin, who was taller than Lara. The woman carried Reyes back into the forest.

Lara only came home to get more weapons when she found the hooded woman in her garden. Lara's memories were instantly _erased_ by the creature.

"Don't worry," Lara tried to fake a happy tone. "She's with me."


End file.
